Author Miranda Richmond Mouillot bravely tackled a subject many people try to avoid: the past. In A Fifty-Year Silence, Mouillot delved deeper into her family history and uncovered realities which would have gone unnoticed because the current generation chose to ignore and forget. This is a book that delivers the message that it is important to remember so it would be easier to let go.
In this highly emotional account of her Jewish family’s past, Mouillot brought her grandparents, Anna and Armand, in the spotlight as she examined books and historical accounts and ask questions to the two people who chose to end their marriage and speak very little about each other.
In writing this non-fiction novel, Mouillot started out with intriguing facts: her grandparents survived the Holocaust, had two children, but decided to end their marriage, never remarried, and haven’t spoken to each other for five decades.
As the lone grandchild, Mouillot felt an inner calling to uncover her grandparents’ story as she herself discovers her own. Moving to southern France, in a crumbling house that was owned by her grandparents, Mouillot fell inlove with the village and eventually led her to marry the man she now calls her husband.
A Fifty-Year Silence gives a very realistic, down-to-earth face to the Holocaust. It is a book that you would not want to read in a hurry. Take time to savor the words and Mouillot’s writing because this one is not just any oral history passed from one family member to the other; this is a piece of human history gathered from thorough and careful research, and told by a woman who made it a personal mission to relive the past as she moves forward with her life.
Mouillot painted a disturbingly calm setting as she narrated her various encounters between her estranged grandparents. The book evokes a feeling of peace and gratitude but shatters your silent reverie with letters and narratives from Anna and Armand who documented their lives in the time of the Holocaust.
As you go through the chapters, you’ll find yourself rooting for Miranda to act as the crucial bridge to reunite Anna and Armand and help them resolve their differences. But in between these chapters, you also tell yourself that perhaps some things are meant to be unresolved, that perhaps not talking is already the solution in itself.
Mouillot wrote her family history with her head and her heart making this book as an appropriate guideline for those who want to venture into writing their respective family histories.
I’m giving this book 10 out of 10 stars. In the end, Mouillot delivered the message that writing this book – which was approved by both grandparents – made her remember and honor the past, an era that shaped her family’s story with the wisdom, guilt, and miracles. By remembering the past, her heart became more open to letting go of it, face her present with happiness, and look forward to a future where she’s not afraid to ask more questions and find their answers.
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